Never thought I'd say it.

I'm not a Millennial or a Gen Z and I don't often sport a beard, so I don't look like your typical Craft loving IPA drinking avatar kinda guy.

I do however love a good hop monster of a beer and can appreciate the whole new fashion for beer and beer venues and bearded and tattooed barstaff.

I like to to try most styles of beer but I'd probably call my go to beer an Ipa and a hoppy one at that.

I was given a bottle of beer the other day as a gift, left at my door by a local connoisseur. It was an Ipa or Neipa mid 7's in percentage and was very cloudy and extreeeemly hoppy. It was brewed recently, locally with the addition of Phantasm Powder. I cracked the swingtop and on the nose it was like wow wipeout, that thick fruity aroma of a hugely hopped beer that promises a taste sensation.

Phantasm powder is a product made from New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc grape skins, rich in Thiol precursors that, when acted upon by yeast produce Thiols. Thiols are Sulphur containing aroma compounds found in hops, and grape skins apparently. They range in their aroma producing and flavor enhancing effects from Sulphury yuk to tropical fruit bliss, depending on which thiol is present. There are 3 that are well understood by wine makers and some brewers, that are used to impart different positive aromas and flavors. The one brewers chase is 3-mercaptohexyl acetate, or (3MHA) reminiscent of Passion fruit and Guava. Ha. told you brewing was sciencey.

I can appreciate a lot of hops in certain beers, I'm big on tropical notes and I thought even more would be better, "too much of a good thing can only be a gooder thing" ... right ? Wrong !

This was too much.

There, I said it, too much.

Too tropical, too Passionfruity and Guava'y. It was as if someone had stuffed hot fruit in all my orifices. The note quickly became confronting and overpowering to a point where I detected a burn both in my nose and taste buds.

It's probably just me, maybe I'm not ready, I'm just not there yet.

I think as we experience more and more hop flavor and aroma components in our beers it increases our threshold and we can crave more and more. But it seems every beer now needs to have more flavor than the last one to stand out. But this one reached my limit.

I don't want to sound like that cranky old guy, but have we gone far enough down the tropical slippery dip.

( I can feel myself ageing as I write this )

It's time for me to get back to real beer flavoured beer.

No not that industrial muck swilled in conglomerate owned pubs, but true Ales and lagers that are brewed in smaller batches with traditional ingredients that change as seasons do. Malt forward beers, where the malty sweetness is balanced with the hop bitterness, the aroma measured and familiar.

Traditional beers, like the ones brewed in small craft breweries or the ones you brew at home that get better and better each time and leave you with a satisfied palette instead of puckered lips and fatigued taste buds.

I think if beer was invented today it would predominately contain Guarana and caffeine, bubblegum flavor and pink dye no. 2 instead of Malt ,Hops, Yeast and tradition.

Listen to this old bloke go...

I'm not saying don't grow, don't evolve, don't change, just don't forget the tradition that has given longevity to real beer for more than a millennium.

I think my Lager journey is about to blossom.

I do love this sport

Brew Love Andrew.